Background information

There has been a occupations‘ shortage in certain sectors in Slovakia for some time due to overqualified workforce, young people leaving to study and work abroad, and an aging population. The shortage has worsened in the past two years due to changes in the earlier retirement criteria which prompted many people to retire and left many position unoccupied. The shortage is the greatest in the manufacturing sector, predominantly in the automotive industry as it is also the largest one in Slovakia.

Content of measure

The Regulation 383/2023 addresses the long-term occupations‘ shortage in the manufacturing sector by broadening the scope of eligible applicants for fact-tracked work visa in the interest of the Slovak Republic. The regulation specifies people from which countries can get a national visa for work when obtaining a job in certain selected occupations. The number of visa recipients under these conditions was regulated, as was the length of stay - for the duration of the employment, up to one year. This way, the visa could only be gained once by each person. This regulation was amended three times since enacted, both the list of countries of origin and the occupations was expanded, as well as the number of national visa provided this way. Original list of countries of origin included: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Philippines, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Nepal, Northern Macedonia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Now the list also includes Indonesia and India. The list of occupations included 11 manufacturing professions, now expanded to 46, including agriculture, gastronomy, construction and food industry. Initially the annual number of workers gaining visa this way was 2,000, on 6th March 2024 it was changed to 10,000. Since 2025 new legislature applies for employing non-EU citizens.

Use of measure

In 2024 the Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family approved 10 400 applications (a first step to gain national visa).

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Migrants or refugees in employment	Sector specific set of companies	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Employers' organisations Company / Companies Public employment service	No special funding required

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative	Consulted
Form	Consultation through tripartite or bipartite social dialogue bodies	Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level

Involvement

Emplouers organisation (EO from now on) APZD lobbied the ministry of labour for national visa due to occupations‘ shortage in certain sector. The first draft underwent regular legislative procedure and a discussion with two employer organisations proceeded its enactment. APZD wanted for a greater number of visa to be granted and for family members to be able to gain visa as well, but these requests were denied. They also added several countries to the list of countries of origin, all of which were approved, except for Vietnam, and added several occupations to the list, while some were rejected. The other EO that reacted was Club 500, which suggested increasing the number of visa to be granted and a number of occupations, of which some were added. Trade unions (TU from now on) did not raise any objections because, as they said, a long-term shortage of workforce in certain occupations is undeniable. The second amendment was not discussed with manufacturing industry representatives, and was also approved in shortened legislative procedure and without a tripartite discussion, which was criticized by APZD.

Views and reactions

EO wanted the working visa law, so the immigration of workforce would be easier; TU agree with the proposal due to the lack of labour force, though they do point out that this is only a temporary solution to a long-term problem, and the state should not forget to solve the current problems on the labour market for Slovak employees: many overqualified people on one hand and long-term unemployed on the other, and low-wage policy which drives Slovak jobseekers abroad in occupations which are now lacking in Slovakia. EOs lobbied for a greater number of national visa to be available (from 5 or 20 thousand), the number was increased with the second amendment to 10 thousand. EO APZD criticized that there was a change (the second amendment) without a discussion with manufacturing representatives which significantly broadened the list of employees who can get national visa (from 11 to 46) which then crowds the offices with many requests and prolongs the proceedings. They also asked to increase the number of national visa for 2024 to 25 000 and prolong their validity to 2025, however the ministry argued the current quota was not yet depleted.

Sectors and occupations

Sources

• 26 September 2023: Assesment of the intergovernmental comment procedure for the first submitted proposal (rokovania.gov.sk)
• 26 September 2023: Explanatory report for the first submitted propsal (rokovania.gov.sk)
• 01 October 2023: Regulation 383/2023 Coll. on the interest of the Slovak Republic to grant a national visa to selected groups of third-country nationals in selected jobs in the field of industr (www.slov-lex.sk)